Triocnemidina

Triocnemidina can be distinguished from related subtribes by a suite of adult morphological characters: head with unmodified frons and simple or weakly serrate male antennae; prothoracic tibia with a strong clawlike seta continuous with a knifelike ridge, often with an accessory claw; hindwing cross vein mdc with concave anterior segment and laterally-directed angle at strong M2; abdominal spiracles with weak distal wall and well-developed dorsal lever; male A7 tergum large, thickly sclerotized, with weakly bilobed distal margin; male valve simple with porrect spinelike ampulla of the clasper arising near the ventral margin and hairlike setae but no corona on the unmodified cucullus; male phallus with tubular vesica bearing one or two patches of spinelike setae set on crenulate bands; female bursa copulatrix simple with or without segmented bandlike signum; and external tympanum with large hood with large ovate or rectangular bulla.

Desert environments, specifically arid shrubland in the Chihuahuan desert region and adjacent areas.

Southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) and Mexico.

Adults fly from spring to fall for at least one species; another species is restricted to spring flight period. Specific seasonality for most species is unknown.

Early stages (eggs, larvae, pupae) are unknown for most or all species. Adults are the only documented life stage.

The large foretibial claw is probably an adaptation to allow moths to escape from the pupal chamber in hard desert soils and dig their way to the ground surface.

• BugGuide
• Wikipedia
• iNaturalist taxon
• A new noctuid genus and species (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Amphipyrinae, Psaphidini, Triocnemidina) from New Mexico and Texas, United States of America.